Now that Samsung has permeated T-Mobile’s lineup with a handful of mid and high-end Android smartphones, they’re naturally going to place their attention on the lower end market to balance things out. Boasting an easy to swallow on-contract price of free, the Samsung Dart is an entry-level Android 2.2 Froyo powered smartphone that packs all the awesome features of the ever expanding mobile platform. Even though it’s new on the scene, it surely needs to excel in many areas in order to relinquish the grasp that the LG Optimus T currently holds in T-Mobile’s lower end smartphone spectrum.

The package contains:

Samsung Dart

microUSB Cable

Wall Charger

2GB microSD card

Start Guide

Health & Safety and Warranty Guide

Design:

Sheesh! There’s absolutely no love given to the Samsung Dart’s design whatsoever with its boring, straightforward, and uninspiring looks. Compounding the issue is the fact that its plastic exterior indeed makes the handset feel extremely cheap – albeit, it does make this compact model feel very lightweight (3.8 oz) in the hand. As much as we can’t stand its conventional design, you really can’t knock on it too much considering that it’s a free smartphone – then again, the standards have been set by the LG Optimus T.

Not surprisingly, the Samsung Dart packs a low quality 3.14” QVGA (240 x 320) LCD display that’s marred by some seriously poor viewing angles, bland looking color production, low brightness output, and prevalent pixelization. Contributing to its distasteful performance even further, is the fact that its display is prone to some serious scratching. And seriously, you’ll need to always look at its display at a straight 90 degree angle in order to clearly see anything on there!

Viewing angles

Finding the usual set of Android capacitive buttons beneath its display, we didn’t have many issues with accidentally pressing them. Moreover, the earpiece grill, light, and proximity sensors are all found above the touchscreen.

You can find the usual set of Android capacitive buttons beneath the display

Luckily, both the volume rocker and dedicated power button are prominently raised from their surroundings to ensure distinguishability when pressed. Likewise, the 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port, lanyard spot, and spring activated microSD card slot are all conveniently located around its sides.

The sides of Samsung Dart

Flipping it around, its 3.2-megapixel fixed focus camera is highlighted with a chrome trim, while two notches towards the bottom allow tunes to come out of its internal speaker. Moreover, there’s a notch on the bottom edge that allows us to easily yank off the rear plastic cover – thus, giving us access to its 1,200 mAh battery and SIM card slot.

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10 Comments

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3.Bob (unregistered)

The Dart, though light weight and around $150.00, is the worst phone I have ever had. Its signal strenght is always very poor no matter where you are at. The key pad is too small, very slow email processing, the camera won't focus.

4.Yolanda (unregistered)

5.Jimmyfjames (unregistered)

I like this phone. This is my first android phone and it more than delivers. I agree the camera stinks and I wouldn't even consider using the video option since the resolution is so low, but I do take some pictures with it. I never have a signal issue at all. I have this phone on t-mobile as a prepaid user and the quality is great and the signal strength is always good. This leads me to think the others had carrier issues not phone issues. The only real negative I have about the phone is the battery. It was advertised as 12 days standby time but I have never found the charge to last anywhere near that long, even though I do not use my phone much.

This was my first android phone and I had nothing but problems with the speaker. The people that I called would hear everything they said echo back to them. I tried to get the phone replaced but it was turning into such a fiasco (T-Mobile Customer Service sucks!) that I finally returned it. The only other complaints I had was that the keyboard was small and sensitive and the display screen in general was small. But those were things that I could have lived with if they would only have given me a new phone that didn't have the speaker problem.

this phone worked great at first no, its stopped charging. ive bought 3 chargers everytime they would stop working now the phone its self wont charge with any charger. the home charger or the car charger. $12dollars wasted. blows my mind. now i cant get a replacement phone nothing.

I to have the dart and it has been nothing but a nightmare. I have been with t-mobil for 6 years but I told everyone on my line not to but anything else cause I'm going to buy out my contract. The customer service people told me lies after lies and have forced me to keep it. this is the third dart I have received and it sucks. I'm gonna try to see what verizon has. I gonna go back to using my blackberry.

Samsung Dart is a horrible phone. If you have the money get a different phone. Initially, the phone was OK; then, you text messages will not go through. Tech support says "turn it off, take out battery, power it up, then delete some of your msgs" WHAT? A really important messages need to go through right away, don't have time for that and somethimes you don't want to talk either. Reception was good, and I didn't use camera that much. We have/had three of these phones in our family, my husband, myself (in IL) and a neice in NY; she hates hers also. We now have Galaxy S, GREAT phone!

I loved this phone. Had it for almost a year. Very easy to use. Then people I started calling said they were getting an echo on their end of the phone. Now the only way I can use it is by using the speaker phone.

Absolutely the worst phone I have ever had! It drops call when you can finally pick up a signal,, the camera is horrible all of the pics are fuzzy, the battery will not stay charged, constantly having to turn in off and restart the phone and its internal space is always full. So frustrating !!!

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